Toy Story 4 - Review

Release Date: June 21, 2019​​​​​​​​​

Smaller Than You Think

The animated features coming from Disney have been pretty complacent for a while now. Even though the films have been less than stellar, that drop in quality was not reflected in the box office. Solidifying themselves as a family-friendly brand while cashing in on nostalgia allows for the conglomerate to keep pumping out content that doesn't push any storytelling boundaries. This lack of innovation allowed for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to swoop in and win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars this year, something that Disney did not see coming. So how does the once great Pixar fair with their latest entry, and hopefully conclusion, to their most successful brand, Toy Story?

No one could have seen this coming. After the large and extravagant adventures, Toy Story decides to end the series with the smallest story possible. This choice honestly caught me off guard as the climatic ending didn't involve an incinerator or fighting at an airport. Instead, the plot trades the multitude of locations for something more intimate. Distilled down to its core 

values, Toy Story 4 takes a page from the first movie and centers on Woody. Most of the pretense of being a toy is ripped away as a story about moving on and deciding when it's right to focus on yourself takes center stage.

The change of pace was the main factor of enjoyment for me. Cutting out the beloved cast and pushing new characters into the spotlight broke the series from its holding pattern. Nothing is lost with the absence of favorites though as keeping an emotional center grounds the experience.  Not having to divide screen time across a large cast allows for more time with Woody, cementing his hold on the franchise.

With all of that praise out of the way, I can tell you that this is not a perfect film. It lacks a strong sense of energy to propel the plot forward. For a movie so reliant on its ability to stir emotions, this is counter-intuitive to making you feel them. Instead of developing strong relationships between characters, it leans heavily on the soundtrack to get a rise out of the audience. The constant battle to keep you entertained is sabotaged with a slower pace, stagnating the overall feeling of the film. 

Toy Story 4 relies heavily on the viewer to fill in blanks, hoping they had seen the three previous entries. In its attempt to tell a smaller story, it discovers something new but doesn't have the juice to make it compelling. Too reliant on old tricks and the use of too many crutches, it stumbles and ends up being an average movie. Sure, Disney is the only studio able to afford the amazing rendering technology to make features look this good, but the loss to Spider-Man speaks volumes. All of that doesn't matter though as movie-goers will come out in droves to see it. Toy Story 4 is not for kids, its made for the adults who have grown with the property, and tells a story for them. Hilariously, it's still one of the best movies in theaters, so you don't have to wait for it on streaming.

6/10
Please, no more Toy Story movies